Tory mutineer claims he wont 'undermine' May BUT says EU won't 'budge on core issues'
CONSERVATIVE rebel Dominic Grieve has claimed the European Union won’t back down over their demands on 'core issues' in Brexit negotiations with the United Kingdom.
Dominic Grieve: EU 'won't BUDGE' during Brexit negotiations
The chief rebel, who tabled an amendment which defeated the Government last year, has claimed the EU will not “budge” on core issues.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, today set out the EU’s 120-page draft Brexit treaty, with the bloc’s demands to align Northern Ireland with its own rules, including the customs union, to avoid a hard border.
The Prime Minister has said the UK will be leaving the single market and customs union and there would be no hard border in Ireland.
Speaking on Sky News, Mr Grieve insisted he did not want to “undermine” Theresa May but suggested the UK’s strategy would not work.
He said: “My view is if we approach this negotiation on the basis of who gives way first, I think we are going to end up with the wrong sort of outcome.
“I am conscious that there are many of my colleagues who see the EU in some way as the enemy and if you just sit there and insist that we are going to get what we want they will eventually blink because motor manufacturers in Stuttgart will say ‘we have got to have a system of free trade access’.
“I am not sure the EU is in a position to give us what we are asking for. We are not dealing with a sovereign entity we are dealing with an international treaty organisation.
“This might be a lawyers point but I keep on making it because I worry that people don’t understand how the EU functions. And it is much easier for the EU to make adjustments to its structure to accommodate countries that are in it and it’s going to be a completely different thing when dealing with a country outside of it.
PMQs: May tells Corbyn Labour's Brexit 'BETRAYS' Britain
I am not sure the EU is in a position to give us what we are asking for
“Our future trade agreement is when we have left the EU. The only real things that are being negotiated between now and March next year are the withdrawal terms and transition, bluntly speaking the rest will be up for grabs when the UK is an external party seeking a trade agreement.
“For that
The Prime Minister has condemned the European Commission draft text on Brexit saying "no UK prime minister could ever agree to it".
Mrs May claimed the proposals would "threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK".
She said: ”The draft legal text the Commission
"I will be making it crystal clear to President Juncker and others that we will never do so."